"Well did you leave the lid off; is there any way it could have gotten out?" He yelled as quietly as possible to Tom across rooms, trying hard not to wake Ellie.

"I put the lid on before I went to sleep, and he's not an it, his name is Wolfgang."

He sighed. "Okay, well you just keep looking in your room, and I'll check your mum's bedroom."

"You can't tell her!"

"I'll try not to, but it's going to be hard if it-he's crawling on her face, don't you think? Go on, before she wakes up, go." Tom retreated back to his room as he slowly opened the door to the bedroom, holding a container just in case. Sure enough, Ellie had an unwelcome visitor with her in bed.

Shit.

He was about to herd it into the container when she opened her eyes, slowly at first.

"Shh, it's okay; I have the situation unde-"

"Alec Hardy what the fuck is a spider doing in my bed!?" She tried to whisper but it came out as a soft yell that increased in volume as the sentence went on. "And my Tupperware?!"

"I know, I'm sorry, I-" Tom came in when he heard the commotion, so he handed Tom the container with his pet inside, lid tightly shut, and whispered for him to go back to his room. Tom left, and before he could turn around, he heard "What are you doing? Why are you giving him the spider? What is going on?"

He inhaled a large breath in, then exhaled, his throat catching slightly. "We went to the pet store after school yesterday, and he really wanted it, so I got it for him."

"Oh, of course, because if I say he can't have something, he'll just go to you and you'll hand it to him on a silver platter!" She grabbed the pillow from behind her, shoved it in her face and screamed in frustration. He didn't know what to do but just wait until she calmed down, careful to keep his distance. "Maybe I should have just hired a babysitter and made you come with me to the station, I'm sure they have jobs-"

"No." He paused, watching her face change at the sudden intrusion. "I was invalided out, nobody will take me now. And going from detective inspector to what…janitor? Besides, I wouldn't want to steal your job again." She grinned. "Have they promoted you yet?"

She groaned in disgust. "No. And I'm more qualified than all of them put together."

"Well, it hasn't even been a week, El. I'm sure you'll get it." They smiled.

"Come on then, let me get dressed. I hope you can get a refund on that thing." She got out of the bed and started fixing the sheets.

"The store did give me a pretty lenient return policy; the woman that was helping us said that spiders weren't the pet for everyone, and she would understand if I brought it back. I also think she kind of fancied me." She laughed, which in turn put a smile on his face, then sighed.

"You know, you don't have to buy him things in order to get him to like you."

"Well then, what am I supposed to do instead? He doesn't like me; I think he's made that quite clear."

"Spend time with him, talk with him. I think he might just want to feel like he can talk to you without it seeming like you're interrogating him." He looked down and she settled her hand on his arm. "You can start by telling him we have to take the spider back."

"His name is Wolfgang." He looked up at her and she had an incredulous look on her face and he couldn't help but grin. She let her hand drop and crossed the room to the closet where she grabbed some clothes.

"I can't believe you let him name it."

He stared for a moment longer before he moved toward the door. "Anyway, I'll let you get ready in peace."

"Alec?" He turned in the doorway as she closed the distance between them, clothes in hand, and her voice dropped to a low whisper. "Don't tell him that we might get a new pet. One with less legs, perhaps?"

"What were you thinking? And don't say puppy because let's not forget who is going to have to take care of it." He motioned to himself.

She scoffed. "Of course you'd be a cat person." She moved back toward the center of the room, and he followed.

"What is that supposed to mean?" They ended up standing at the side of the bed, next to the nightstand.

"No, you know what, you're right, I'd say you're more like a hedgehog."

"Why, because I have a prickly outside?"

"And a soft belly." She moved in to poke him and he flinched. "Are you ticklish?"

"No…" She pounced on him and they ended up on the bed, writhing about as she continued to tickle him. "El-he-li-he-ehehehe" He continued to involuntarily react to the sensation as her laughs grew in intensity, which lessened the hold she had on him. He used this to flip them over, pinning her hands so she couldn't reach him anymore. They calmed down together, him slowly releasing the grip he had on her hands as they stared at each other. He had an urge to kiss her senseless, so he abruptly got up and dusted imaginary flecks off his clothes as he moved toward the door, turning his face away from her to hide his blush. "You should get ready; I'll go talk to Tom."

She caught up to him as he reached for the door handle and put her arms around his neck, presumably standing on the tips of her toes to hug him. "I promise I won't tickle you anymore." She let go and whispered once more. "And don't tell him about the puppy we're going to get." He turned around to protest, but she was already gone to the other room. He rolled his eyes and let out a chuckle as he went to tell Tom the bad news.